As a blogger, you put a lot of effort into your website and creating the best content possible for your readers. But behind the scenes, maintaining a blog isn’t always as easy as your readers might think. It takes consistent maintenance, management skills, and creativity. After all, everything you do is for your readers.

For instance, you might install a content delivery network (CDN) to make it easy for readers all over the world to access your site quickly. Not sure how a CDN works? According to Dreamhost, “When you use a CDN with your site, all those servers will be loaded with static versions of your site’s files. This usually includes code like CSS and JavaScript, images, documents, videos, and other data.”

While a CDN can be set up with your hosting provider, there are many other native Mac applications that you can leverage on your own. Each of these apps allows you to take your blogging capabilities to the next level, both on the back and front ends. Here are a few:

CyberDuck

CyberDuck is an FTP (file transfer protocol) solution that allows you to manage your server and alter its capabilities. Though this is geared to the more technically-inclined, many non-techies use it to make basic server changes on their own.

For example, let’s say you downloaded a premium WordPress theme and want to import demo contents. However, the demo contents are too large for your current server. In this case, the theme’s support team might send you information on how to use an FTP to expand max requirements in a PHP file located on your server. Otherwise, you can always request that your host make these changes for you (they may charge an additional fee, depending on your plan).

MarsEdit

MarsEdit is the perfect native application for managing your WordPress blog. Currently, it’s the #1 Desktop WordPress editor for Mac. Once you log into your account through the platform, you’re greeted with a simple list of your most recent blog posts. From here, you can create new blog posts, edit existing ones, and much more. Although you can achieve the same tasks in WordPress, it’s a great solution for bloggers who don’t want to be distracted with a dashboard and would rather write in a clean, elegant space, and manage in WordPress later.

Integrity

Integrity is a Mac application that helps you manage a crucial part of your on-page SEO: broken links. Integrity will search through each page of your existing copy in a beautifully designed Mac interface, and show you which links across your entire site are broken, and which are safe. If you’ve been running a blog for a few years now, chances are you have a few broken links.

Broken links are links on your site that no longer exist. For example, let’s say you linked to a resource you thought would be great for your readers. Perhaps that site or page no longer exists, the page was moved, or the wrong URL was put in.

Google uses links as a ranking factor, and therefore, if you have too many broken links on your website, it could hurt your SEO. Conduct regularly scheduled link audits on yourself to ensure your anchors are always in good status.

Wunderlist

For a beautifully intuitive to-do list, look no further thanWunderlist. If you haven’t heard of the “GTD” workflow, this platform is the epitome of it. GTD is an acronym for Getting Things Done, and it’s a time management phrase coined by author David Allen, who wrote the best-selling business book, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”. The GTD workflow consists of five stages: capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage.

With Wunderlist, managing each stage is as easy as 1-2-3. It comes equipped with many features that allow you to run your personal and professional life simultaneously. Set reminders for calendar events, create to-do lists, collaborate with others, group lists in folders, and more. The app is specifically designed for Mac OS, so when you open your Notifications tab, even when the program is closed, it shows you your list of to-do items, with checkboxes next to them for easy marking. It also has Android, iPhone, and Web versions so you never miss a beat, even when you aren’t on your Mac.

Copy ‘Em Paste

It might seem like copying and pasting is pretty straight forward, but this Mac application will streamline your copy and pasting efforts like never before.Copy ‘Em Paste is one of many clipboard manager apps, but is particularly effective for working on a Mac interface. The majority of clipboard manager apps double as GTD apps, as they help you streamline the work you do on the Web.

The app claims to “turbocharge your daily workflow” by recording your entire history of copy and pasted text, images, screenshots, links and more. You can paste snippets that you frequently use with easy shortcuts, strip different text formats, and organize your clippings into custom lists.